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12 Questions with Elliott Sadler

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Elliott Sadler, who is fourth in the Nationwide Series point standings entering this weekend's road course race at Mid-Ohio. Sadler is Q: From what

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Elliott Sadler, who is fourth in the Nationwide Series point standings entering this weekend's Nationwide Children's Hospital 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Sadler is one of a dozen drivers who will be racing on behalf of a patient at the Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Q: From what you've seen, whose driving style is the most similar to yours?

A: When I used to be teammates with Dale Jarrett, I had a similar driving style to him as far as how we tried to get in the corner and carry speed through the middle. I think I learned a lot from him and kind of adapted to his driving style.

As far as current people, I don't really have a good answer with that. Until you look at data and share data, it's hard to say. But my spotter (Brett Griffin) wants me to be more like Ricky Rudd.

How's that?

People hit me, I hit 'em back right then. So we're working more toward Ricky Rudd's driving style.

Q: Do you collect any of your own racing memorabilia such as diecast cars, firesuits or helmets?

A: Yes. I try to keep at least one firesuit from everything I've driven and at least a couple helmets. Anything pink goes to my mom (a breast cancer survivor).

I'll tell you the coolest thing I have: In 1999, Tony Stewart and I were rookies together and we traded helmets. I still have his rookie of the year Home Depot helmet in my museum at home. That's something I'll always keep.

It stinks a little bit, but it's pretty cool to have.

Q: What percent of overall success in NASCAR has to do with the car, what percent is the driver and what percent is luck?

A: I'd like to say the driver and the car now are pretty even, so I'd say 40% driver, 40% car and 20% luck. Just to be politically correct. (Laughs) That's kind of a boring answer.

Q: What person outside your family has done the most for your racing career?

A: I'll be honest with you — it's Dale Jarrett. And I hate to use him twice because I know I said him for an earlier question, but he's done a lot for my driving career. He had a lot to do with me getting in the 21 car (for Wood Brothers Racing) and really helped me with the Motorcraft sponsorship because he was a big part of the Ford deal when he moved to UPS. He had a lot of pull over there at the time and he really had a lot to do with me going to (Robert) Yates (Racing) as his teammate.

So as far as making steps up through the ranks, I really feel like he had a lot of influence on where I ended up and how my career progressed.

Q: You come into contact with a lot of different people during a race weekend — your team, sponsors, media, fans — and you only have so much time. How do you decide how to prioritize that time or divide it up?

A: I'll tell you the policy I've always had as a driver — and this actually came from Brett (Griffin) 14 years ago: We have an open-door policy. Whether it's the race team, whether it's the owner, whether it's the sponsor, whatever, you don't even have to knock (on the motorhome door). You push the door, come on in. There's no such thing as private time; we're very accessible. And I think that's why we've always had such a great relationship with our teams and with our sponsors. We've always had an open-door policy.

With the fans, it's always tough at the racetrack because you're working. We try to sign autographs when it's downtime, but as far as sponsors and teams are concerned, it's an open-door policy to come whenever. We also do cookouts at the bus for the team. I've done a bunch this year already. So that's how we try to maintain the schedule as best we can.

Q: I've often heard fans say something to drivers like, "Hey, remember me from that autograph session three years ago?" So it's clear fans want to be remembered. What is something a fan could do to be remembered by you?

A: The biggest thing that leaves an impression on me is when I get asked to sign something that's off the wall and different than what everyone else has. Then I'll remember: "Oh yeah! I signed a ketchup bottle for you one time." Or "I signed an animal for you that time."

If you draw a picture or make a painting that I'll sign or something, that's the biggest way I can remember you. If everyone comes up with the same postcard we hand out, it's hard to remember.

But fans say it all the time: "Hey, remember this?" And that's cool as hell, because it means they've come back again and want to see you again, so that's a great show of respect. It's just really hard a lot of times to recall that many faces that come through the line at one time.

Q: The last guy you wrecked — did you do it on purpose?

A: I'm trying to remember the last guy I wrecked. I don't think the last one was on purpose, but the next one I wreck might be on purpose, because I've got kind of a list going.

Q: Is there anyone in the garage who you used to clash with, but now you get along and have smoothed things over?

A: Probably Carl Edwards. He's the first one who comes to mind, because we hated each other years ago. He wrecked me on the last lap at Richmond at my home track (in a 2005 Busch Series race) and we had some tough times from that. But I think now he's somebody who I get along fine with. It's water under the bridge.

A: To me, it's Stroker Ace. I'm just a Stroker Ace fan. It had a lot of cameos in there from drivers I looked up to at that time. Lugs Harvey was a really good crew chief and it's just a funny, funny movie. The Chicken Pit Special, man, it's hard to beat that.

Q: What's your song of the moment right now?

A: My son (Wyatt) has learned how to use my phone and he knows how to get music out of it. And so Cruise by Florida Georgia Line plays 40 times a day at my house. He loves the part where they go, "Come on!" So my son loves it, and my daughter (Austyn) — she's 19 months old — can sing every word to it.

Is that the Nelly version or the straight-up Florida Georgia Line version?

My wife (Amanda) has just introduced the Nelly version, which my son calls the "mixed up" version instead of the "remix." He didn't understand all of it at first, but now he's playing the new "mixed up" Cruise and likes that one, too.

Q: Define yourself without NASCAR. Who are you away from the track?

A: I'm an outdoorsy kind of guy. I like being outdoors all the time. It's always hunting during the wintertime; and I mean every day outdoors. In the summer, I play a lot of golf and a ton of softball. So I'm outdoors and active all the time. I'm not the kind of guy who is inside playing video games and watching YouTube videos and playing on Facebook a lot. That's just not me.

Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Denny Hamlin and he wanted to know: "If you were still a pro athlete but you couldn't race, what sport would you play?"

A: In my dreams it was always to play basketball, but that's kind of tough nowadays. I'm OK at golf and that would be cool. Those guys seem to have a career that lasts for a long, long time and they make it look so easy on TV. So I think it would be fun to be a pro golfer.

There's too much hormone and drug stuff going on in baseball, I don't think I need to get in that. (Laughs) Basketball, I'm not tall enough. And football, that looks pretty tough — they have to do too much working out and training. So golf, to me, seems like the way to go.

And do you have a question I can ask the next person?

I don't want to ask anything about the car, because I might get someone in trouble. So how about this: "What are your thoughts on going to weeknight racing and shortening up the season?" We could do the same amount of races but just add weeknight races and make the season from like March to September. Ask them what they think of that. Then we wouldn't have to compete against college football or pro football.

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ELLIOTT SADLER'S THREE FAVORITE APPS

-- theScore Mobile. It's a scoreboard app with all the games and scores. Especially with football coming, I like keeping track of that.

-- Twitter. Of course, I follow Twitter.

-- Candy Crush. I've become a Candy Crush guy. I'm stuck on Level 6. I think you guys who say you've gone further than Level 6 are lying. Level 6 is pretty hard. I think you guys are buying extra turns and stuff. I'm still working on it though. I'll get there.